Loading mechanism for front end loading refuse vehicles



Oct. 28 1969 o. M. ANDERSYON LOADING MECHANISM FOR FRONT END LOADING REFUSE VEHICLES Filed Jan. 25, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 \h a 1. HQ Q 42:: a 1 x 1 l an mg f 4 @w \w a? 2 E D a Q W ww Q I!!! J Fw wv OR/N M. ANDERSON INVENTOR.

BY g I A roRA/E Oct. 28, 1969 o. M. ANDERSON LOADING MECHANISM FOR FRONT END LOADING REFUSE VEHICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 25, 1968 OR/N M ANDERSON INVENTOR.

BY aw 2 W ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,474,923 LOADING MECHANISM FOR FRONT END LOADING REFUSE VEHICLES Orin M. Anderson, 224 Glenarm, San Antonio, Tex. 78201 Filed Jan. 25, 1968, Ser. No. 700,437 Int. Cl. B65f 3/02 US. Cl. 214-302 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Load lifting mechanism for refuse vehicles of the type having a pair of lift arms pivotally mounted at their rear ends for vertical swinging movement and shaped to extend over the cab of the vehicle when in lowered position for engagement with a refuse container located in front of the vehicle and to hold the container in an elevated position to be emptied into the body of the vehicle when the lift arms are elevated. The mechanism has a subframe upon which the lift arms and pressure cylinder mechanism for actuating the same are mounted and which may be attached to the chassis of the vehicle to support the body thereon. The mechanism is designed to be constructed as a unitary structure upon which the body may be mounted before attachment to the vehicle chassis, or which may be mounted on the chassis to detachably or permanently support the body. The lift arm actuating mechanism is designed to provide improved strength and rigidity of the pressure cylinder arrangement.

Background of the invention Refuse vehicles of the front end loading type, as heretofore commonly constructed are provided with a body mounted on a vehicle chassis, and which has a top opening into which a refuse container may be emptied. The loading mechanism of refuse vehicles of this kind has a pair of lift arms, usually shaped to extend over and downwardly in front of the cab of the vehicle for engagement with a refuse container positioned on the ground in front of the vehicle to lift the container, such arms being pivotally connected to the body for vertical swinging movement to elevate the container to a position over the body for dumping into the body.

The lift arms of the mechanism are actuated by pressure cylinders pivotally mounted on the body at locations rearwardly .of the points of pivotal support of the lift arms.

In refuse vehicles of this kind, the body is usually mounted on the chassis and the lifting mechanism is attached directly to the body which is more or less rigidly constructed to withstand the stress applied to the lifting mechanism. The lift arm actuating cylinders are commonly pivotally connected at their rear ends to the body for vertical swinging movement, while the piston rods of the cylinders extend forwardly and are pivotally connected at their forward ends to the lift arms at locations spaced from the points of pivotal connection of the arms to the body. By this construction the piston rods will be fully extended when the lift arms are in their lowered position, thus presenting the minimum strength and rigidity against bending of the piston rods or buckling or other damageto the cylinder and piston rod assembly due to the lifting of heavy loads or accidental engagement of the lift arms with obstructions.

Moreover, the attachment of the lift arms and their actuating cylinder assemblies directly to the body often necessitates modification of the body structure to avoid interference of portions of the body, such as external ribs or reenforcing flanges of the side walls of the body or other portions thereof, with the movements of the actuating cylinder assemblies, or the reenforcement of the Patented Oct. 28, 1969 ice body at locations to provide additional strength and rigidity to withstand the stress applied thereto by the lifting mechanism.

The preesnt invention has for an important object the provision of loading mechanism for front end loading refuse vehicles of the type referred to, embodying means for mounting such mechanism on the vehicle independently of the body of the vehicle. I

Another object of the invention is to provide load lifting mechanism for refuse vehicles of the front end loading type including means by which a body may be removably or permanently supported on the vehicle for use with such loading mechanism.

A further object of the invention is the provision of loading mechanism for front end loading refuse vehicles, embodying lift arm actuating mechanism having pressure cylinder and piston rod assemblies which are pivotally connected to the vehicle and the lift arms and in which the distance between the point of pivotal attachment of the piston rod to the lift arm and the point of pivotal attachment of the cylinder to the vehicle is less than the combined length of the piston rod and cylinder in any position of extension of the piston rod.

Summary of the invention Briefly described the invention comprises a subframe or body adapter which is constructed to be attached to the chassis of a refuse vehicle of the front end loading type and upon which a body may be detachably or permanently mounted and to which lift arms are pivotally connected at their rear ends for vertical swinging movement in posi- .tion to extend forwardly over and downwardly in front of the vehicle cab for engage-ment with a refuse container to be lifted, positioned on the ground in front of the vehicle. The lift arms are actuated by pressure cylinders pivotally mounted on the subframe for vertical swinging move ment at locations spaced rearwardly from the lift arms and whose piston rods are pivotally connected to the lift arms at locations spaced from the rear ends of the arms. The cylinders are pivotally connected to the subframe at locations mediate the ends of the cylinders, so that the distance between the point of pivotal attachment of the cylinder to the subframe and the point of pivotal attachment of the piston rod to the lift arm is less than the combined lengths of the piston rod and cylinder in all positions of extension of the piston rod. The lift arms and actuating cylinders are preferably detachably mounted on the frame to facilitate the disassembling and replacement of the lifting mechanism.

The various objects and advantages of the invention will be evident from the following detailed description constituting a specification of the invention when considered with the annexed drawings.

Brief description of the figures of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view illustrating the front loading mechanism of the invention, showing the same applied to a refuse vehicle;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view, on a slightly enlarged scale of the front loading mechanism showing details of structure of the same and the manner in which the mechanism is mounted on a refuse vehicle; and

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary top plan view, partly in cross-section, of the lifting arm actuating cylinder of the mechanism and its mounting structure.

Description of a specific embodiment of the invention Referring now to the drawings, the invention is disclosed herein in connection with its application to a refuse vehicle of a usual type having a generally rectangular body, generally designated 10, of the kind having a top, refuse receiving opening at its front end into which refuse may be dumped from above in loading the same, and which is designed to be supported with the loading mechanism on the chassis, generally designated 12, of a wheeled vehicle provided with road wheels, such as those shown at 14 and having the usual cab 16.

The chassis 12 may be of a usual type having an underframe structure including spaced apart beams 18.

The front end loading mechanism of the invention includes an auxiliary or subframe, generally designated 20, of generally rectangular structure, whose width is at least equal to the Width of the body and of appropriate length to accommodate and support the body when the body is positioned upright on the subframe. The subframe may be of any convenient construction suitable for the purpose, such as that shown, having spaced apart parallel side frame members 22, connected together by a number of cross-members 24, to form a rectangular structure adapted to rest upon and to be suitably attached to the underframe beams 18 of the vehicle in any well known manner to form an open platform, upon which the body 10 may be positioned and to which the body may be suitably secured.

The loading mechanism has a pair of rigid left arms 24, which are of generally inverted U-shape formed with forward arm portions 26 and rear arm portions 28 Which are connected together by intermediate arm portions 30 forming the bottoms of the Us. The lift arms are pivotally connected at their rear ends to the forward end of the subframe 20, as by means of a cross shaft or tube 32. rotatably mounted in split bearing blocks attached to the front ends of the side frame members 22. Each of the split bearing blocks is formed in two pieces, the piece 34 of each block being suitably attached to the forward end of one of the side frame members 22, while the part 36 is releasably connected to the part 34, as by means of bolts 38. The cross shaft 32 may, of course, be journalled in bushings or other suitable bearing structure, not shown, carried by the bearing blocks. By this arrangement, it will be apparent that the lift arms may be readily removed by releasing the bearing block parts 36 and lifting the shaft 32 out of the bearing blocks.

At their forward ends, the lift arms are suitably connected by shaft 40 upon which fork arms 42, are pivotally mounted for vertical swinging movement, to position the fork arms for engagement with a refuse container, such as that shown in dotted lines at 44, located on the ground in front of the vehicle, whereby the container may be lifted by the lift arms to a position to be emptied into the body 10 as shown in FIGURE 1.

Each of the fork arms is actuated by a pressure cylinder 46, pivotally connected to one of the arm portions 26 at a location spaced from the forward end of the lift arm, as by means of a perforated lug 48, and has its piston rod 50' pivotally connected at its outer end to a crank arm 52, best seen in FIGURE 2, which is connected to the fork arm to rotate the fork arm upon extension or retraction of the piston rod. By this arrangement the fork arms may be maintained more or less horizontal during the lifting of the container until the container is positioned to be turned over to empty its contents into the body 10.

The lift arms are positioned one at each side of the subframe 20 and each lift arm is actuated by a pressure cylinder 54 pivotally supported in a cylinder mount 56 attached to and extending laterally from one side of the subframe. Each of the cylinders 54 has a piston rod 58 extending from its forward end which is pivotally connected to one of the arm portions 28 of the lift arm, as by means of a perforated lug 60, at a location spaced from the rear end of the lift arm, whereby the lift arms will swing upwardly upon retraction of the piston rods 58 and downwardly upon extension of the same.

The cylinder mounts 56 may be formed of parallel spaced apart plates or parts 62, connected together by a bottom plate 64, as best shown in FIGURE 2, to form a generally U-shaped, open-topped and open-ended, boxlike structures, which may be attached to the side frame members 22, as by welding or otherwise, and within which suitable bearing means, such as that shown in FIGURE 3, of a usual type, is supported and in which the cylinders 54 are pivotally carried for vertical rocking or swinging movement, as by means of trunnions 70 extending laterally from the cylinders mediate their ends. The trunnion bearings may, if desired, be of a separable type, such as split bushings or the like, made in two parts 68 and 69, as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, suitably detachably secured together whereby the parts of the bearings may be disconnected to allow the cylinders to be readily removed from the mounts.

Because of the open-topped, open-ended construction of the cylinder mounts 56, the cylinders 54 may rotate freely on the trunnions 70 during elevations and lowering of the lift arms without interfering with adjacent parts of the structure of the loading mechanism.

The fork arm actuating cylinders 46 and the lift arm actuating cylinders 54 will, of course, be connected in then usual manner to a source of pressure fluid under the control of suitable valve mechanism by which the fork arms may be operated in unison with the lift arms to hold the refuse container substantially upright during lifting of the same to its dumping position and to return the container to its upright position before setting the container back on the ground.

It will be apparent that because of the inverted U- shape of the lift arms the arms will clear the doors of the cab 16, as seen in FIGURE 1, to allow opening of the cab doors in any position of the loading mechanism.

It will also be seen that the loading equipment, constructed as described above, permits the subframe to be first attached to the vehicle and the body to be set in place on the frame thereafter, or if desired the body may be first mounted on the subframe which can then be positioned on and attached to the vehicle chassis. The lift arm mechanism and its actuating cylinders may, of course, be attached or removed at any time.

By providing the lift arm cylinders 54 with trunnions 70 located mediate the ends of the cylinders and mounting the cylinders as described, it will be seen that the distance between the point of pivotal attachment of the piston rod 58 and the point of pivotal support of the cylinder 54 is less than the combined length of the cylinder and piston rod in all positions of the mechanism, thus providing a structure in which the distance between the points of pivotal support of the lift arms on the subframe and the points of pivotal support of the cylinders 54 thereon may be maintained at a minimum, thus substantially reducing the danger of bending the piston rods or buckling or otherwise damaging the lift arm actuating mechanism due to overloading or accidental engagement of the equipment with obstructions.

The invention is disclosed herein in connection with a particular embodiment of the same, which is intended to be illustrative only, it being apparent that various changes can be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts within the spirit of the invention.

Having thus clearly shown and described the' invention, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a front end loader mechanism the combination with a vehicle of the type having a chassis and a body adapted to receive refuse therein, of

(a) a subframe supported on the chassis upon which the body may be supported above the chassis and above and to the rear of the sub-frame;

(b) a pair of lift arms, one at each side of the vehicle;

(c) a fork arm pivotally connected to the forward end of each of said lift arms adapted to be engaged with a container positioned in front of the vehicle and which is to be lifted and emptied into the body;

((1) means pivotally connecting the lift arms at the front end of the sub-frame for vertical swinging movement to one position extending forwardly from the vehicle to another position extending above the body;

(e) an actuating cylinder for each lift arm;

(f) means forming a pivotal connection between each or said cylinders and said sub-frame at a location rearwardly of said lift arms to allow the cyllinder to swing vertically and including:

(g spaced apart upright parts supported on the subframe;

(h) means connecting the parts together at their lower ends, said cylinder extending between said parts; (i) bearing means on the parts and on the cylinder mediate the ends of the cylinder positioned for coaction to allow the cylinder to swing vertically between the parts;

(j) said pivotal connection means being joined to said sub-frame to form a unitary structure demountable from the chassis;

(k) a piston rod slidably extended into each cylinder through its forward end; and,

(1) means forming a pivotal connection between each piston rod and one of said lift arms at a location spaced forwardly from the rear end of the lift arm.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,733,988 10/1929 Barnard 298-11 X 2,828,032 3/1958 Beasley et al. 214-302 3,078,000 2/1963 Dempster et a1. 214302 3,175,712 3/1965 Herpich et a] 214-77 X 3,258,140 6/1966 Appleman.

3,338,438 8/1967 Holtkamp 214-302 GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner 20 ROBERT J. SPAR, Assistant Examiner 

